


Fever Dream

by my_dark_disquiet



Category: Poets of the Fall
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Gen, I'll add more tags as i go, don't count on me updating this often, hey writer this seems oddly reminiscent of 2020, i mean you're not wrong, supernatural abilities kinda, there's a mysterious extra character i won't reveal for spoiler reasons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25257712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_dark_disquiet/pseuds/my_dark_disquiet
Summary: Five years have passed since Marko Saaresto, Olli Tukiainen, Jaska Mäkinen, Jari Salminen, Markus Kaarlonen and Jani Snellman were split up midway through the European leg of their 2020 tour. Since then, they've had to fight to make their way back home - alone. There's just one issue - it turns out that reaching home may not be possible anymore, at least not with the minuscule amount of money each of them possessed.Clearview Industries, located in Stockholm, Sweden, is a goldmine to the drifters in need of money. Jobs are almost freely given away, provided you fit their criteria. But this goldmine is corrupt and sick in more ways than one.
Comments: 48
Kudos: 5





	1. I - Arrival - Jari

**Author's Note:**

> Jari Salminen - a drifter, hitching dodgy rides across the continent with the little amounts of money he has left. Or not at all, in this case. 
> 
> This time he hadn't paid a single coin, mainly because the people in the front had no idea he was laying low inside of the tray of their pickup truck.

**HIGHWAY E20, SWEDEN - 4:16PM**

* * *

Sirens wailed in the distance as the skyline of Stockholm approached, shrouded in a heavy layer of smoke. Laying in the cargo tray of a rusty, ancient pickup truck, Jari kept his head low at risk of the driver and passenger of said pickup truck seeing him.

He wasn't planning on paying his way into travelling to Stockholm anyway - in fact, he was out of money. If he hadn't dared to leap into the back of that faded candy red truck seven hours ago, he'd still be stuck in Denmark.

Stockholm had been Jari's goal ever since he discovered what was there. Stockholm was Jari's only chance to gain the possibility of making at least a little bit of money, and he was desperate. Clearview Industries offered a heavy pay to whoever met their requirements for a job, and Jari was determined to get that job, no matter what it took.

Overcast, the sky provided a blanket from the harsh sun, maintaining a constant lukewarm temperature - something that would have normally been irregular in an icy, shadowed city such as Stockholm.

Breathing heavily, peeking through a rusty hole in the steel barrier of the cargo tray, Jari watched as the pickup truck approached the first row of dilapidated concrete skyscrapers which had fallen several years ago. Soldiers covered in bulletproof armouring watched the inward traffic, the Clearview logo emblazoned on their shoulder pads.

His sleeves caught on the rust lining the cargo tray as he shifted position, tearing yet another hole in the blush red and faded cobalt plaid shirt Jari had dragged through hell and back. It was the same shirt he was wearing the day he was split up from his best friends.

However, it was no time to get sentimental, as the Clearview Tower was slowly becoming visible, piercing through the persistent fossil grey smoke hanging in the air like a needle through cotton. Jari prepared to leap out of the cargo tray and run for his life.

He waited, watching for an opportunity, and rose from his position, faltering as his muscles seized from the sudden movement he made. The truck swerved as the drivers realised there was a person standing in the cargo tray, and Jari was forcefully launched out of the back of the candy red pickup truck.

Trying to land without scraping the skin off his dirt-crusted arms, Jari's beaten-up Converse shoes slammed onto the asphalt. A shock of pain stabbed through his left ankle, but he kept bounding towards the alleyway across the road.

Behind him, the door to the pickup truck slammed shut, and the two people who were inside the cabin began chasing Jari, holding a serrated knife each, shouting and screaming. Jari's heart slammed in his chest as he glanced over his shoulder, realising the imminent danger was approaching much faster than he anticipated.

Jari had nothing to defend himself with. All he had was the knowledge that Clearview Tower was only a block away, and that all these years of running had built up enough stamina to outrun the people chasing him.


	2. I - Arrival - Olli

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Olli Tukiainen - a drifter who took the responsibility of protecting a young teenage girl in the wild, unpredictable world in hopes of a better future for both of them.
> 
> He would lay his life down for Raven if it came down to it.

**HIGHWAY E20, SWEDEN - 4:21PM**

* * *

Blonde hair blowing in the lukewarm breeze, Olli and his soot-haired companion Raven gazed upon the looming shadow that was the city of Stockholm. He grinned, full of excitement that he was finally where he wanted to be.

He and Raven had fought for years to get this point. Raven was only 16, but when Olli found her three years ago, close to dead on the pavement of a street in Germany, he knew he had to protect her with his life.

Since then, she had accompanied Olli on his journey to Stockholm to get a job at Clearview Industries. Olli insisted they'd both apply for an interview and hopefully get a job once they had been interviewed, giving both of them the chance for a better life once their working contract ended.

The roads, albeit busy, weren't chaotic like many of the other roads the pair had traversed since they had met. Olli's beaten up cobalt blue sedan had been their mode of transport for the last two years, and it still worked like a charm - despite the shattered windscreen and enough dents to make it look like a lemonade can that had been crushed in someone's fist.

Olli could barely believe that Stockholm was still standing, considering how ruined the other cities they had passed on the way, but the marbled skyscraper in the centre of the city and the military-style trucks ensuring the roads flowed correctly gave him the answer.

Raven turned to him after eyeing the soldiers which stood by the black and white striped trucks, rifles in hand. "Clearview sure does have a hell of a lot of control over Stockholm, don't you think?"

"It makes sense, though," Olli answered, frowning as they entered the city's borders, "because they have the manpower to keep that control. Half the city is employed by Clearview. It's why the city hasn't fallen to pieces yet."

Halfway down the street, a candy red pickup truck had stopped in the middle of the road. Olli rolled his eyes and squinted, realising the driver and the passenger inside were no longer inside the cabin. Raven raised her eyebrows as the driver and the passenger emerged from a nearby alleyway, agitation splayed across their faces and a knife wielded in one hand, finally settling inside the pickup truck.

She chuckled, waving the exhaust gas away from her face as the truck sped ahead and turned down a thin, dim alley. The cobalt sedan slowly chugged along, spluttering occasionally, as it approached yet another group of armoured trucks with the Clearview Industries' chess piece logo displayed on the front.

The soldiers acknowledged their sedan, waving them ahead to the gateway which prevented the rest of the chaos in the street from entering Clearview's area of jurisdiction. Once they made it to the heavily protected gate, a soldier approached them.

"Identification?" He asked, voice gruff and tired.

Raven pulled out her passport from the worn, dusty resealable plastic bag it had sat in for the last five years and passed it along. Olli dug through the pockets of his jacket and revealed his own passport, slightly torn on the cover as he had failed to protect his from adversity, unlike Raven.

The soldier nodded and took them in one hand, the other still resting on his gun in its holster. Several tense minutes passed as their documents were scanned, the two travellers exchanging anxious looks amongst each other.

A different worker for Clearview returned with their documents and two smaller pieces of paper, only wearing a company-issued uniform and a leather jacket, which seemed to be brand new.

"Welcome to Clearview Tower. Please drive through to the parking lot and proceed to your indicated interview rooms on these tickets."


	3. I - Arrival - Marko

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marko Saaresto - a drifter living semi-comfortably alongside newfound friends. Newfound friends who would eventually leave his side.
> 
> Soon he will be left alone again in the midst of a dangerous city.

**HIGHWAY E20, SWEDEN - 4:34PM**

* * *

Marko gulped down a deep breath of fresh air as he grinned widely, laughing along with his friends who had kindly offered to drive him to Stockholm in their beaten-up dandelion yellow van.

Four of the five members of the group squatted on the roof of the van, pointing at the cars neighbouring them on the motorway, giggling at the misfortune each of them seemed to have encountered at some time during the car's life. The fifth member, Otto, was driving, content with being alone, only the muffled sounds of laughter and the wheels of the van accompanying him.

“Thanks so much for this, guys. I didn’t know whether you’d have the money for the fuel.” Marko said, grinning as the cold air filled his lungs.

Theo slapped him on the back. “You’re our friend, man. Even if we didn’t have the money, we’d get you here somehow. You’ve always told us that you wanted to make your way back to Stockholm the moment you discovered you were eligible for work.”

Sable nodded, her faded blue hair blowing in her face, her raspy voice barely able to be heard over the scream of the wind. “None of us can go and work for Clearview, so we’re glad that you can. At least you have a chance, Jester.”

Marko smiled at the mention of the nickname. It had stuck with him ever since he met this ragtag group of travellers, all the way back in Cologne a few weeks after the disaster that had split his beloved band apart.

His face still had the black paint covering it from the show, and on his right forearm the word ‘Jester’ scrawled across. It was a wonder it hadn’t washed off since the show, but that was the first word that was associated with Marko, now stripped of his identity in a world of greed and calamity.

Otto stuck his hand through the hole in the roof used to access the seating area the group had fenced off to fit more people in the van and motioned for Marko, Sable, Theo and Mathilde to sit back in their seats as they approached the first city barricade to Stockholm.

Clearview controlled most of the city, creating order where there was a serious lack of such, turning Stockholm into a paradise of sorts. A paradise filled with irritated, starving survivors and the rubble of ruined skyscrapers, but a paradise nonetheless.

Taking a seat on the worn red seats beside Theo, Marko pulled at the collar of his t-shirt nervously and patted his pockets for his drivers’ license, possibly the only documentation he had left that he could use to get a job at Clearview. He’d lost his passport years ago.

For anyone who met the requirements, Clearview could offer them a job in law enforcement, retail, or even in mathematical and scientific departments depending on whether you had a degree in those areas.

Marko would be perfectly happy with anything if he was perfectly honest.

The van continued ahead, and soon Otto pulled it over to the side of the road, just before the final barricade which divided the city from the Clearview Tower and the monstrous parking lot that surrounded it.

Sable, weakly smiling, slid open the door which groaned as it rolled back. Marko hugged Theo first, muttering something in Theo’s ear, and then moved onto Mathilde, whose golden blonde hair got tangled between his fingers as he wrapped his arms around her. 

Farewelling Otto in the front seat with a handshake, Marko took one last look at the people who had helped him get as close to home as possible and flashed a toothy grin at them as his torn sneakers landed on the asphalt.

“See you around, Jester.” 


	4. I - Arrival - Jaska

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jaska Mäkinen - a drifter, beaten beyond recognition, both mentally and physically, and overwhelmed with exhaustion.
> 
> There was a strong chance he wouldn't even reach the Clearview building before passing out.

**HIGHWAY E20, SWEDEN - 4:48PM**

* * *

Legs aching, lungs heaving, Jaska Mäkinen’s body was close to giving up. He was only a few blocks away from the Clearview Tower, but it felt so far away no matter how close it looked. 

He paused for a second, eyeing the alleyway beside him. Rubbish lined the edges of the path, but it was slowly being picked up by a lonely Clearview employee, whose eyes had the same dark circles around them that Jaska had too.

Jaska had lost count of how far he had walked at this point - and, if he was perfectly honest, he didn’t want to see the number tallied up. He’d run out of transport options the moment he entered Sweden over the Oresund Bridge, and eventually, he realised he’d have to walk if he wanted to make it to Stockholm.

During the journey, he had been mugged twice, gotten caught in a riot and tear-gassed, and had almost been hit by a truck in transit to Stockholm which he intended to climb onto so he didn’t have to walk so far.

For Jaska, it was fair to say that the last five years had been pretty awful - but he guessed the majority of people nowadays thought the same. But the single spark of hope that things could get better was inside the building in front of him, where he could rest, for he was one of the lucky few who filled the criteria to be hired.

He started walking again, attempting to distract himself from the aches that rooted inside his bones, tightening his muscles and attacking his lungs which had, over the last few days, been hacking up blood, rejecting all of the dust and smoke Jaska had inhaled over the years of climbing through the ruins of former cities.

Letting his mind wander, the moment he let it free from its reins, untying the binding ropes which usually kept it in line, five familiar faces immediately revealed themselves in the misty depths of Jaska’s head.

Jaska squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head, attempting to sway the image away. As the faces came more and more into focus, Jaska tripped on the curb, causing the painful memories he hadn’t meant to unearth to be flung away violently.

A sigh of relief was the first thing he did once he regained his footing. Those five faces, once his best friends, were long gone. All his old memories were just reminders he wanted to silence and forget about forever.

Jaska would be lying if he said he didn’t miss them, though. He missed them every day.

However, he feared they had done more than simply disappear from his life, but life as a whole. Not everyone was as lucky as he was. 

That was what he was most afraid of - the fact that he might never see them again.

Within a few seconds, Jaska was torn from deep inside his thoughts, as someone ran right into him from one of the alleyways to his right. Their red and blue plaid shirt streamed out from behind them as they yelled out an apology, continuing to sprint across the road and down another shadowed alley.

For a second, they seemed familiar, from their voice to the faded cherry and teal shirt they wore, and their long, caramel brown hair which had been brutally hacked away in a futile attempt to cut it shorter. They reminded Jaska of someone from long ago.

Cursing under his breath, Jaska drew his attention to the road in front of him. The Clearview Tower wasn’t too far away at that point, but his body was screaming at him to collapse right then and there.

_ Just a few more steps,  _ he thought,  _ and then everything will be fine. _


	5. Extras I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few little dialogue teasers for you, to tease what's to come.  
> They might not all be used buuutttt  
> Some names will be left out from dialogue (shown as [REDACTED]) and some description (shown as [DATA EXPUNGED]) because spoilers heh

“Jaska? Can you hear me? It’s [REDACTED]. I’m going to get you out of here. I don’t know what they’ve done to you, but I do know that the others are here too. I can't open their cells, so you're going to have to do it. Don’t come looking for me once you get out, okay?”

* * *

Marko slowly opened the heavy steel door, afraid of anything that could be lurking in the shadows of the concrete box they were inside.  The room seemed to be empty until a quick glance to the roof proved otherwise.

“How the hell are we supposed to get him down from there?”

* * *

“What did they do to us?”

* * *

“Marko?” Olli whispered, pressing his face against the glass. 

A smile formed on Jaska’s lips. “It’s him! It’s really him!” He yelled, knocking on the door. “Marko!”

There was no response from the silent, stone-cold face on the other side of the glass.

* * *

Seconds before the darkness swallowed the group whole like a shark consuming its prey, there was one sentence that lingered in the air, echoing for millennia.

"Are we going insane?"

* * *

“Jaska? What are you…” Jari began, confusedly looking at his bandmate, studying his concentrated movements.

There was a mighty scream from the steel support beam as [DATA EXPUNGED], like an eldritch creature emerging from the depths of its domain. 

Olli's eyes widened, and fear swarmed his thoughts as he witnessed something both truly terrifying, and truly incredible. “Oh… oh my god. Jaska!”   



	6. I - Arrival - Jani

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jani Snellman - not the typical drifter at all. He had a habit of stealing things from right under people's noses, and disappearing off into the distance.
> 
> This time, he had stolen a motorbike. And it was a beauty of a machine, that was for sure.

**HIGHWAY E20, SWEDEN - 4:55PM**

* * *

Blissful but melancholy, the sweet sunset breeze rustled Jani Snellman’s thin, wiry hair. Below him, the engine of the motorbike he had stolen was roaring, guzzling the fuel he had also looted from some abandoned, empty cars on the side of the road.

The hair on his bare shoulders prickled at the slowly fading warmth hanging in the air, a chill beginning to present itself between the smoke and cloud that Jani’s lungs took in. 

Most cars hummed along the highway, while some wheezed and coughed, sick from overuse and mistreatment. Jani couldn’t help but smile at the fact that his motorbike - well, it wasn’t really his - seemed to be running the smoothest, not a single splutter emerging from the engine.

While the dirty looks he received from other drivers didn’t faze him, the stern stares of the drivers of the Clearview armoured trucks sent shivers down his spine. It was as if they knew exactly what he had done since he was split up from his band - and he knew that some of the things he had done were much worse than stealing a simple motorbike.

Jani tried not to think about it most days. Some days, however, when the warm air hung around a little longer and the stars shone brighter in the indigo sky than usual, it was impossible to ignore it. He was alone in those situations. A wanderer, absorbed in his own thoughts.

Sometimes they choked him. His memories became accusatory, fighting against the weak, defensive assurances he muttered, saying that he had just done what he needed to do to survive.

Had he gone too far at some points? Yes, no doubt.

Was he a bad person? That was a little more up for debate.

At this point, the only opinion that mattered to Jani was Clearview Industries’ opinion. Getting a job there was an escape from his guilt, smothering his memories until they couldn’t breathe. He would have a new life.

He hoped.

In all honesty, that’s all he could do - hold onto hope with a vice grip in fear of it pulling him further down to hell if he didn’t hold onto it tight enough.

As the Clearview Tower loomed in the distance, the shadow of the gargantuan building invading even the smallest alleyways, shouts emerged from several side-streets. Clearview soldiers strutted between skyscrapers, hustling anyone who sat between the rancid piles of garbage splayed across the discoloured concrete, sending them home. Many didn’t have a home to go to, however, and put up a decent fight to stay where they were.

Jani winced, flinching away from the sight of a young woman being beaten repeatedly by a soldier’s baton as he screamed for her to leave the alley. Desperation howled angrily and emerged from its settling place in the woman’s mind, clambering out like a wild animal on the run after its prey.

The soldier pulled his taser out slowly, circling the woman as if they were in the middle of a duel. Defiant swamp green eyes stared back up at him, animalistic in nature, before desperation struck yet again and lunged towards the soldier with a roar.

A hiss sounded from the taser as its prongs buried themselves into the woman’s body, breaking the skin. She fell limply to the concrete, her limbs buzzing from the shock occasionally as her hands were forced behind her back, the soldier speaking through his radio to his captain.

Jani gulped down the event he had just witnessed like a pill too large to swallow, repressing the sight to the darkest corners of his mind. A seed of doubt flowered, the pollen of questioning spreading through to every nook of consciousness Jani possessed.

Clearview wasn’t as innocent of a company than Jani thought.

Far from innocent, actually, as Jani would find out in a few hours.


	7. I - Arrival - Captain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Markus 'Captain' Kaarlonen - a drifter who lived in the shadows, diverting attention away from himself as best as he could, surviving in the darkness.
> 
> Emerging into the light for the first time in five years led to him hiding inside a freight ship on his way to Stockholm.

**SODERSTROM RIVER, SWEDEN - 4:58PM**

* * *

Captain studied the steel, navy blue painted walls of the freight ship’s holding bay. They were soaking wet. So was the floor. It was as if the whole holding bay was sweating like an athlete training out in the blazing sun, covered in a silvery sheen. The heat pressed against his skin like a hydraulic press, humid and heavy.

He held onto a steel support beam to prevent himself from slipping as he peeked out from between two shipping containers filled to the brim with Clearview uniforms - uniforms he hoped he’d be wearing soon.

Two guards wandered past as he peeked out, causing him to withdraw with a gasp. Their attention was brought to where he was hiding for a few seconds, but they quickly moved on to prepare for the ship to dock. 

As Captain’s hot, shallow breaths evened out, the roller doors of the freight ship opened with a groan. He knew that he’d have a few minutes between docking and unloading, a space in time when there was nobody to see him sprint out and make a run for the Clearview Tower.

Footsteps echoed across the storage bay, passing Captain’s hiding spot. He was unsure how many guards there were exactly, but considering this was a generally unimportant shipment compared to food supplies and the like, Captain hypothesised that there wouldn’t be many.

Once the guards had passed, he peeked around the corner. The storage bay was empty again, meaning that Captain’s time had come to run.

And run he did.

He made it about 200m before somebody noticed.

First, it was a yell. Second, a radio’s scream. Third, a thundering gunshot that barely missed his shoulder and buried itself into the path beside him.

Captain’s heart pounded, his worn leather jacket feeling as if it was choking him. He didn’t anticipate being caught, although deep down inside, ever since he had wedged himself between a crate of shipping containers docked in Gothenburg, he knew he would.

Ahead of him, the Clearview Tower loomed, a strikingly recognisable building compared to the others. There were a fair few blocks of buildings to weave through to get to it, but the distance felt like nothing as Captain’s mind descended into a lucid state.

The next half an hour of running, evading and gasping for air was a blur, all thoughts blocked out by dark clouds to highlight one single objective: get to Clearview Tower, no matter what.


	8. II - Crossing The Threshold - Olli

**ROOM 36A, CLEARVIEW TOWER - 5:16PM**

* * *

The interview room was cold. A lot colder than outside - it was as if the air was biting at Olli’s toes and fingers, bruising them. Or maybe that was his own blood, nibbling at his skin from the nerves he was enduring. The monochromatic marble table he rested his arms on didn’t help either, as it was even colder than the rest of the room.

His interviewer glanced up, reading over the documents Olli had filled out prior to his interview. “So, Mr. Tukiainen, you’ve described yourself more of a creative type than a logical thinker - is there any reason behind that? What was your previous job?”

Olli grimaced. He knew the question was coming, obviously. It was a job interview after all. Yet he still refused to think about it, and stayed silent, zoned out, until his interviewer coughed, Olli snapping out of it in response.

“A musician,” he answered simply. After his interviewer gestured for more information, he continued. “I guess you could have considered me the lead guitarist in the band I played in.”

A note on the interviewer’s form was written after a nod.

 _Why,_ Olli thought, _was that noteworthy?_

“And you wrote the music that you played? Or did you just perform?” His interviewer questioned, leaning back in his chair without a care in the world.

Olli shifted in his seat, knowing that he would be kept in this interview for much longer than he already had been. All he wanted to know was whether Raven got the job - she went in before him but hadn’t emerged from her interview room before his own name was called.

“Yeah, I did,” Olli noted, “with the rest of the band. We all wrote our own parts.”

Another note on the interview form.

The interviewer wrote for a while this time, unlike before. Several minutes passed before he sighed again and sat forwards, leaning his elbows on the desk, his uniform making a clunk as it hit the immaculate marble.

“Alright, one last question, Mr. Tukiainen. Do you know what happened to these other band members?” The interviewer queried. “When did you last see them?”

This was the question Olli despised the most, out of all of them.

He sighed, grumbling a little. “No idea. It’s been years, maybe 5. I don’t know if they’re even alive.” Olli shifted again, frustrated. “Why is this relevant to the interview?”

A suave, evil smirk, and a matter-of-factly reply. “We’re collecting background data for you, Mr Tukiainen.” The interviewer turned and picked up his radio, muttering something into it which came out as muffled noise.

A reply was received, equally as muffled. That muffled reply set off a chain reaction, causing the lights in the room to be turned off, a whole squad of soldiers rushing inside the interview room. 

By the time Olli had properly realised what had happened, gloved hands had pressed him against the wall, the cold concrete chilling his spine. As much as he wanted to move, his mind screaming at his body to do something, nothing happened. His joints were frozen in fear and shock, his blood casing them in a solid barrier.

Not even his throat could produce more than a gasp for air. 

The steamy breaths of the soldiers holding him down pressed against his cheeks as a chorus of radios played in the background of his pounding head and thundering heart. Bile rose in his throat, burning it, overwhelming all of his senses until something sharp was inserted into an exposed vein, muting everything, dampening his very life force.

Looking back, Olli still hadn’t processed the exact details of what happened in that interview room even a few years afterward. Somehow, his mind had completely blocked it out from his memory - both a blessing and curse. 

You see, Olli would never fully accept what had happened to him that day. He cursed himself for being so stupid, for being so naive, refusing to acknowledge that there was no way that he could have known how corrupt Clearview Industries actually was.

Gazing over the bigger picture, however, proved that Marko, Captain, Jani, Jaska and Jari were equally as naive, all ending up in individual dark, concrete cells in the seemingly endless Clearview Tower, just like Olli.


	9. III - Interlude - Tiia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a long one, so get excited!
> 
> Tiia Öhman - a former drifter, now working an office assistant’s job in the Clearview Tower.
> 
> She would give anything to see her friends again.

**CLEARVIEW TOWER - 7:46PM**

* * *

Tiia choked on her coffee the moment her eyes landed on the six files she was meant to carry through to the Research Department as they landed on her desk, full of folders of classified material she most definitely was not allowed to look at but had most certainly looked at anyway.

She stared long and hard at the names, pure disbelief coursing through her veins, feeling as if all the efforts she had made over the last five years had amounted to this. While she had always kept the end goal of getting a job at Clearview to secure her life, there was always an underlying hope that maybe, just maybe, she would find the six musicians she had always stayed by the sides of in the past.

Miracles weren't common anymore - but this was most certainly a miracle, without a doubt.

_ File I: Marko Saaresto - Beta Containment  _ _   
_ _ File II: Olli Tukiainen - Omega Containment _ _   
_ _ File III: Markus Kaarlonen - Kappa Containment _ _   
_ _ File IV: Jani Snellman - Sigma Containment _ _   
_ _ File V: Jaska Mäkinen - Theta Containment _ _   
_ _ File VI: Jari Salminen - Epsilon Containment _

_ All six of them _ , she thought.  _ I can't believe it. _

Her excitement drained, however, when she read where her best friends were heading towards - the Containment Sector.

Panicked thoughts ensued.

_ Oh no. _

_ This can't be the way things are supposed to happen. _

_ I have to do something. _

_ They don't deserve what's coming for them. _

**CLEARVIEW TOWER - 10:23PM**

* * *

Only one thing was on Tiia's mind.

Over the last few hours, with only 7 minutes left until the end of her shift, she had formed a plan. Fully prepared to carry it through, armed with enough knowledge to get her friends out of their cells, the long-winded plan was both daunting and exhilarating to imagine.

She had studied the other Clearview employees vigorously, catching glances of systems she barely knew how to operate before as she walked past, knowing fully that she'd have to use them later that night.

Tiia, however, had also realised that she would have to push a few too many boundaries in order to do what she needed to do - boundaries she was not ready to cross.

Her coworker sat hunched over the computer screen, blazing in a halo of bluish-white light. He doubled as a guard and an errand runner, tasked to be both tough and speedy. Tiia originally planned to walk past and grab the taser holstered at his waist, but then realised that she probably wasn't capable of overpowering a trained guard, so she settled for something else.

His gun.

Heart pounding, breath shaky, Tiia stood up from her chair, gulping down her fear. Her plan was either going to end up as a success, or she was going to be dead in less than thirty seconds by the hands of her coworker. She held her hands out, reaching slowly, and grasped the loaded pistol, unlocking it silently from the holster.

A sigh of relief - and, if she were to be honest, wonder - as Tiia held the heavy metal in her hands. How her coworker hadn’t noticed was a complete mystery to her, but she was thankful for how the situation had played out.

Tiia wrapped her hands around the pistol and pressed it against her coworker’s head. It made a slight click at contact, causing him to let out a wavering breath of dread. 

“Stand up,” Tiia spoke, her voice still a little uneasy. “Get up!” She yelled when her coworker didn’t respond, a commanding tone sending a shock through both of them. 

He slowly stood, raising their hands, lip quivering. A quick glance at him would outline that, under pressure, they would not be suitable as a guard - his state of fear was palpable, slipping between his fingers, sending him into a panic.

“You,” Tiia began, “are going to take me to Containment and help me with something. If you try to outsmart me, to trick me, or take me anywhere else, I  _ will _ pull this trigger. Got it?”

He hesitated for a second before nodding, swallowing hard. Tiia, on the other hand, was absolutely shocked by how she was acting. She could barely believe the words she had just spoken had come from her own mouth.

The pair began walking, Tiia noting the empty hallways. Only the Containment Sector would have workers still inside, keeping a watch on… whatever was down there.

She didn’t know much about what exactly was kept in the Containment Sector. Originally, rumours spread amongst the office workers, mentioning things like eldritch creatures created by insane scientific processes, but soon Tiia discovered that it was something much worse.

They were using people for whatever inhumane experiments were happening down there. Criteria for the subjects was a little unclear, but there seemed to be a common trend between the sixty people who were taken down there by force.

All of them determined themselves to be creative thinkers on their paperwork, viewing the world around them as something vastly different to their logical counterparts - which is probably how Marko, Olli, Captain, Jani, Jaska and Jari had ended up down in the awful, godforsaken halls of the Containment Sector.

After the pair had walked themselves into the quiet hallways of Containment, Tiia stopped her coworker in his tracks. “We are going to find the control room, and then you are going to leave for the night. If you stall, or go to speak to a superior, anything - you know  _ exactly _ what I’ll do.”

Another shaky nod.

_ God, Tiia, what are you doing? _

Tiia shook her inner voice away in an attempt to keep herself on track, taking note of an exit the pair walked past on her left. She’d need to use it later, obviously.

First containment room she was looking for along the hallway they had ended up in was the main control room - just a short walk away. She hid her gun by her side as her coworker knocked quietly on the control room’s door with a clenched fist, his knuckles white with fear.

When the door was opened, Tiia gestured at her coworker, indicating that he could now leave. Without the pressure of his own pistol on his skull, he sprinted up the closest flight of stairs, petrified, and quite frankly, in awe that he had made it out of that hellish situation alive.

Tiia was welcomed in by the main control room supervisor, who grinned at her, oblivious to the anxiety that leaked out of Tiia like a dripping tap. The supervisor closed the door behind the pair, giving Tiia enough time to expose the pistol yet again.

The supervisor was, clearly, much more expressive of how he felt about his situation. So much so, that his first instinct was to pull away, causing Tiia to press the pistol harder against his skin, the pressure catching him off guard.

“If you don’t want me to shoot - and believe me, I will if you don’t do what I say - then listen to me very, very closely,” Tiia commanded, her voice forming into a hiss. “I’ve got some friends in these rooms that you oversee. You’re going to disconnect their sedatives, alright? And then whichever way you’re holding them - unlock that too.”

The control room’s supervisor turned his head to face Tiia slowly, eyes wide. “Y-you can’t do that! They’ll run rampant! Kill someone! Who knows?”

_ What the hell has Clearview done to them? _

Tiia sighed, gulping a little. “You want to get out of this room without a bullet wedged in your brain? You cooperate with me.” Her voice was so loud and assertive that it was even intimidating her own mind. 

“Okay,” he squeaked, and turned to face the control panel, a myriad of lights, screens and buttons. “Which rooms?”

Tiia smirked a little, completely blown away that her plan had actually worked. “Beta, Theta, Sigma, Epsilon, Kappa and Omega.” She listed the rooms, still in disbelief.

A few buttons were pressed, six red lights blinking from underneath six separate surveillance screens. It was hard to see, from Tiia’s position, what they showed, but she theorised that it was a direct view into the cells in which her six friends were kept.

“It’ll be a few minutes before they properly wake up,” the supervisor spoke.

Seconds passed. An alarm started blaring, planting a seed of panic into Tiia’s mind. She was so close! How could things have gone wrong now? 

Pushing the supervisor aside, she frantically searched for some sort of speaker button on the control panel that would relay what she said into at least one of the cells. When Tiia finally found one connected to Jaska’s cell, she spoke a few last words of sorts into it.

Once she had finished, it was her time to run. Grabbing a hold of the supervisor’s uniform, she dragged him out of the control room, slamming the door behind him. There was no way to stop her friends from leaving anymore. 

Tiia ran. She ran until her head became foggy and unclear, still processing everything she had just done as she navigated her way out of the Clearview Tower using the exit she had spotted previously. 

The smoky night air battered at her lungs and pushed against her lucid eyes until she closed them in a sense of relief, hiding underneath the lid of an empty dumpster.

She had done it.

Marko, Olli, Captain, Jani, Jaska and Jari had a chance to free themselves… she hoped.


	10. IV - Breaking the Chains (Part I) - Jaska

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think these chapters are gonna be longer from now on heh. This one is so big that I've had to cut it in half lol.  
> Strap yourselves in, the action is kicking off and our boys are realising that there's something just a little bit off with themselves after waking up.

**CLEARVIEW TOWER, 10:35PM**

* * *

Jaska was the first to wake up. He ached to no end, wrists bruised by the metal cuffs on his arms. His mind was clouded by something, slicing his thoughts in half, leaving him unable to think as he sat on the cold, empty concrete floor.

Jaska felt the breathing mask on his face and tore it off, receiving a small but violent wave of clarity after doing so, finally being reminded of the last thing he remembered happening. He was running. He ran a very long way before Clearview managed to catch up. 

Apparently, they didn’t expect him to fight back when they tried to corner him in the interview room - not when he was as weak as he was.

All of a sudden, a voice.

Familiar. 

From long ago.

“Jaska? Can you hear me?” The voice spoke, which sounded familiar to Jaska - but it wasn’t until they introduced themselves that Jaska realised who it was. 

“It’s Tiia,” She spoke, her voice ringing out in the empty room. “I’m going to get you out of here. I don’t know what they’ve done to you - but I do know that the others are here too. All of them.” 

_ I must be out of my mind,  _ Jaska thought. _ There’s no way I heard that right.  _

How could the people who had been plaguing his mind for the last five years be here, in the same building, after all this time?

“Don’t come looking for me once you get out, okay?” Tiia said, her voice sounding panicky. “I’ve got to go, Jaska. Find the others and run!”

The speaker went silent, indicating that Tiia had left, giving Jaska time to process what was just said to him.

_ Find the others and run _ .

He stared down at the cuffs attached to his wrists and ankles, connected to a string of chains attached to the roof. They swung when he moved, loose and weighted.

His ruined clothing had been replaced by a plain, monochrome grey long-sleeved shirt and loose pants, and his shoes had been taken, leaving him barefoot on the cold floor. 

When he put his hand to his swaying head, expecting to feel the dreads of his matted hair, all he was met with was a shaved skull, smooth and eerie. Continuing to feel around his face with icy fingers, he discovered his beard too had been shaved, nothing but the occasional patches of stubble left over.

Jaska cringed at what he imagined his appearance to be now. Cold, blue, dead eyes, and pale, worn skin adorning a thin, bony skeleton - his faded tattoos the only thing giving him some sort of identity.

Aching, he stood up, rubbing his hands over the cuffs on his wrists. Tight and heavy, they encapsulated him, holding him there like a dog on a leash. They were thick, too, thicker than what Jaska thought was needed to keep a weak, broken body like his in place.

Something instinctual kicked in as his mind continued to wake up slowly, reiterating what Tiia said he needed to do.

He needed to find the others. With these chains, however, that wouldn’t be possible. Until he was disconnected from them, he wasn’t going anywhere.

Jaska pulled a little. Swung around. Walked as far as he possibly could, stretching the chains to their limits. With every test, they started to stress under the movements he was making, creaking and groaning.

An observation Jaska had made earlier was that these chains were immensely thick, and definitely not something you’d attach to a person. They could hold a bridge up if they wanted to, but whenever Jaska did so much as pull on them a little, they screamed under his weight.

Another tug. Then, an impatient heave as something in Jaska’s mind clicked. 

Like falling rain, the chains came tumbling down from the roof, no longer on their attachments. They cracked, creating an ear-splitting echo as they smashed onto the flooring, resounding through the room.

It left Jaska in a state of shock for a few minutes. At the same time, he had both an overwhelming avalanche of thoughts flooding his mind, and a complete absence of thought altogether as he tried to figure out what exactly had just happened.

_ Did… did I do that? _ He questioned.  _ Surely not. _

Pulling again, this time at the other end where the chains connected to the cuffs on his left wrist, he received his confirmation. They snapped off, leaving his wrists free from the chain’s weight. He tried again on his right wrist, barely even trying to disconnect the chains, and again managed to free himself.

On the floor, the chainlinks were warped and twisted, as if they had been set that way when they were first manufactured. Their state left Jaska in awe, staring at the tangles of chains decorating the floor, until he remembered again what he needed to do.

_ Find the others and run. _

Well, he was free to run now. Time to find the others.

Without the persistent weight of those chains, Jaska was free to cautiously edge his way over to the plain, thick door that locked him inside. While it had no internal handle - probably a precaution to make sure Jaska couldn’t leave - it was ever so slightly ajar, as if it hadn’t been sealed properly.

Given the opportunity, Jaska swung the door open and stared out at the hallway in front of him. An alarm was blaring from the loudspeakers, an eerie accompaniment to the empty halls of the concrete building.

More cells were down the same hallway, shadowed and in the dark. Only the bright light from inside the cells cast a light onto the wall, stark yet ominous. Taking brisk steps past each door, Jaska peered into each window, searching for the faces that had haunted his memories for the last five years.

His heart panged a little as he passed each cell. He felt as if he had an obligation to help them too, but they weren’t in the same physical or mental state as he was. Their bodies limply hung, sat and floated in their cells - each prisoner was contained in a different, unique way - completely oblivious of what was happening.

Jaska almost walked past the cell named  _ Sigma _ . He had cast a quick glance, convinced that Tiia had been mistaken, that none of his friends were here, until he noticed another silhouette moving inside.

Staring harder, he realised the whole cell was full of water, with just a person inside, connected to a mask like his. They frantically swam their way around, only able to breathe through the mask, making their movements slow.

Jaska knocked on the window and the silhouette glanced up, taking a breath through the mask before swimming over to the glass, lungs already burning. As they neared the glass, recognition dawned on the both of them as each of them were able to see the other. 

Jani grinned at Jaska, pressing his hand against the glass. Jaska mirrored his movements, smiling as Jani swam back to the mask to breathe for a few seconds. 

Jani was in a similar situation to Jaska - head shaved, dressed in plain clothes, barefoot. He barely looked like himself anymore, but then again, neither did Jaska.

The water was lukewarm and pleasant for Jani. He had no trouble moving around as long as he could breathe through that mask, even though each breath made him feel lightheaded as if the air he took in was trying to send him to sleep.

Jaska stood on the other side, searching for a way to open the door. Jani’s door was still locked, unlike his own, but considering the sheer volume of water inside that cell, he wasn’t surprised that it was still shut tightly. 

He paused, thinking for a moment. If he was able to break those chains keeping him in, maybe he could smash the glass separating Jani from freedom. The only issue was the water, but if he stood to the side and just let it flow out, there was a possibility the plan would work.

Gesturing to Jani, who came forward and tried to understand what he was saying, Jaska instructed Jani to take one last breath and move out of the way of the window. He did as Jaska said, waiting as Jaska rammed his elbow into the glass, cracking it.

Jani could barely believe what he was seeing as Jaska continued to smash the glass, the cracks spreading like spiderwebs. Water began to spill out, Jaska grimacing as his elbow began to hurt a little from the repeated impacts. A chunk of the glass fell away, water immediately flooding into the hallway, splashing onto Jaska’s bare feet.

He continued to pull away at shards of glass, cutting his fingers while doing so as Jani hung at the roof of the cell, using the growing pocket of air as a way to breathe instead of through the mask. Blood flowed through the water, colouring it red until it ceased to flow, the level of the water lowering below the window.

Jani reached through the now completely empty window, Jaska grabbing onto his arms to heave him through the small gap. He gulped down fresh air as Jaska caught him, lowering him down onto the floor awkwardly.

They grinned widely at each other.

“Hell, Jaska. I never thought I’d see you again!” Jani beamed, pulling Jaska into a hug, not minding the crimson stains Jaska’s bleeding fingers were leaving on his shirt.

Jaska couldn’t help but laugh, despite the urgency he felt to find the others. This was bliss, even if it was only for a few seconds. Jani was the one to step away, studying Jaska’s concentrated facial expression.

“Look, man, I don’t know how you did that - but thank you,” Jani said, still smirking. 

Jaska weakly smiled back. “I’d be lying if I said that I knew how I did it either,” he chuckled before frowning a little again. “Hey, look, I don’t want to ruin this moment, but the others are here too. All of them. We’ve gotta help them out too.”

Jani’s eyes widened as he nodded silently, thrust into shock, following Jaska as the pair continued down the dark, gloomy, and now wet, hallway.


	11. IV - Breaking the Chains (Part II) - Jaska

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, there's gonna be a part 3 to this.  
> Oooooops...

**CLEARVIEW TOWER, 10:48PM**

* * *

Jaska tightened his fists, eyeing the bleeding cuts on his knuckles. Either it was his adrenaline stopping him from fully processing the pain, or Clearview had done something… strange to his pain tolerance. Jani walked beside him, sopping wet, bare feet slapping against the concrete.

The empty hallways were eerily quiet, aside from the recurrent scream of the alarm. Nobody apart from Jani and Jaska seemed to be there, even though Jaska was expecting to find a squad of soldiers around every corner they turned.

Jani tapped Jaska on his shoulder to point out yet another moving silhouette, stumbling around the room as they held their hands over their ears. A closer look revealed the pained expression of Olli, his ankles attached to the floor by chains. Some sort of strange, unfamiliar device sat in the centre of the room behind a glass wall. Around his hands, smudges of crimson had been smeared on his shaved head and cheeks. 

“Are…” Jani began, trying to decode what exactly he was looking at, “are his ears _bleeding_?”

Jaska nodded slowly. “I think so.” He swallowed. “We should, uh… get him out of there.”

Studying the wall just beside the door, the pair noticed a series of buttons and levers - none of which were labelled. While it was helpful to know that they had the controls right in front of them, it was the complete opposite to not know how to operate said controls. The pair silently negotiated who was going to try and press a button first, scared they’d do more damage than good.

Jani stepped forward, furrowing his eyebrows at the myriad of colourful switches in front of him. He reached for one lever, then hesitated for a few seconds before reaching for another, closing his fingers around the handle. Shutting his eyes, apprehension apparent, both Jani and Jaska waited for something to go immensely wrong.

The moment Jani was about to pull the lever, he felt something shift inside of him that caused him to pull away. It sparked excitedly, almost as if it was a firework that had been set off inside Jani’s blood. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t scare him - he had no idea what it was until the whole switchboard hissed angrily.

Jaska stumbled back at the noise, a popping sound reminiscent of a gunshot. It was at the same moment that the lights in Olli’s cell went dark. He swore a little before going quiet, noticing the enlivened flickers of electricity travelling around Jani’s fingers which quickly ceased in frequency.

“What the hell?” Jaska spoke, unable to take his eyes off Jani’s hands. “How did you-”

Jani was equally as confused, his heart pounding, pumping bewilderment around his body. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know, Jaska.” He sighed, placing a hand at his chest, breathing shakily. “How did I do that? That was…”

“That was _insane_ ,” Jaska breathed, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh. “There’s something sick about Clearview. They’ve done _something_ to us. We’ve changed, that’s obvious. Why else would they be keeping us like this?” He paused, glancing down the hallways. “You literally just short-circuited a switchboard with the touch of a finger. That’s not something a person can just… _do_.”

Both Jani and Jaska stood there, regaining their bearings, breathing heavily.

The pair turned to face the cell door, which had, from observations, completely lost power. Even the door had hissed open, allowing them to stumble into the black void, searching for Olli. The scratch of a chain being dragged against the floor was heard from the furthest corner, giving them some sort of direction.

“Olli?” Jani called, tripping over one of the chains attached to Olli’s ankles.

Silence - for a few seconds. Then, a broken, fearful voice.

“J-Jani? Is… is that you?”

Even though it was dark, both Jani and Jaska knew that each of them were grinning brightly at the sound of their best friend’s voice.

After a few seconds, Jaska found Olli in the corner of the room, hands still lifted close to his ears. Whatever had been playing from that device in the centre of the room had surely been painful for Olli to hear - would it have been painful for Jani and Jaska too?

Jaska quickly moved to snap the chains from Olli’s restraints, Jani helping Olli up from the cold, smooth floor. None of them questioned anything, instead concentrating on moving faster, panic setting in as several other pairs of footsteps quietly approached the cell.

Outside, a group of soldiers were quietly nearing the group, their guns lifted, ready to fire. Those soldiers were doing what soldiers do best - pretending that they’re not scared when really, they’re terrified. They had been told to prepare for the worst, that the people being held captive down in Containment could barely be considered people anymore. 

The prisoners were dangerous, the higher-ups said. Far stronger than the soldiers tasked to stop them from escaping - it seemed they had no chance. No information had been relayed to the soldiers, explain what they were capable of exactly, just told that they were to _shoot to kill._

Their first mistake was pointing their guns at Olli, who, despite his weak state, still had fight in him as he stumbled slowly out of the darkness. To be fair, Olli barely knew what he was doing, let alone how to control what he was about to do, but what he did was still terrifying no matter the case.

One second, they had their guns ready to fire. The next, and the soldiers were screaming. All of them crouched in place, rocking back and forth, shaking uncontrollably. Fear. Dread, worry. Intense anxiety. Terror.

Olli’s terror. 

Olli’s terror, invading their own minds. Filling every corner. Overwhelming every thought. Spreading like wildfire.

The former guitarist’s head pounded with their screams. The suddenness of it all had sent him into shock, frozen in place, trying to process the emotions which seemed to radiate from each soldier like shockwaves. Jani and Jaska both tried to regain Olli’s attention to no avail, afraid of scaring him even more, or worse.

Jani reached forward, pulling softly on Olli’s wrist. “Come on, Olli! We’ve gotta go!”

Olli turned to face the pair, face pale. It was then that he noticed waves of emotion emanating from them too. Not as intense, but still evident. He could _feel_ them as they floated through the air, affecting his own mental state.

The hallways captured the noise of the screaming alarm and the screaming soldiers, letting it echo. It was a haunting sound, harrowing, burying into every nook of the concrete walls.

Around a corner, a bulkhead door met the group. It was a welcome discovery, gifting them with both silence and a defence mechanism from any other soldiers that may come after them. They slipped through, Jaska slamming it shut behind them, turning the lock as tight as he possibly could. Something unexpected - but welcome - stood at the end of the hallway, also banging against the window of another cell’s door.

Jaska squinted, pausing and holding Jani and Olli back before realising who it was after hearing their voice ringing out in the hallway.

“Marko?” He queried, still taking cautious steps towards the figure.

They glanced up before walking briskly towards the group, face lit up with excitement despite how the prisoners’ current situation seemed to be nothing but despair. Olli, Jani and Jaska smiled widely the moment the figure’s face became visible.

Olli ran forward - as fast as someone who had just woken up from heavy sedatives could - and embraced Marko, both of them laughing and crying in unison. When they both pulled away, staring at each other’s blank, empty appearances, Jani and Jaska also joined the joyful reunion.

All four of the former musicians knew they had time - so they utilised that time, just to hold onto each other and grasp onto the reality that they had truly found each other. Jaska, in particular, could barely believe the people in front of him were real, not like the hallucinations he’d seen over the years.

They enjoyed their moment.

Bliss.

After several moments, Marko glanced back at the door he had been standing by. “Jari, he’s… he’s in there. I got out - my cell was completely unlocked when I woke up - and had a look around, which is how I found him.”

He waved Olli, Jaska and Jani down the corridor to peer through the clouded window. It was slightly hard to see through, but what could be seen was Jari’s frail silhouette - floating.

Suspended mid-air, peaceful and silent. The only thing that was attached to him was his breathing mask, but its line was slack - meaning that Jari was miraculously drifting with absolutely nothing holding him up.

“Now, uh…” Jani said, furrowing his eyebrows. “How are we supposed to get him down from there?”


	12. IV - Breaking the Chains (Part III) - Jaska

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My longest chapter yet!  
> I have no idea how it turned out being this long, but here we are.  
> But yay, our boys are now together :D maybe not the best circumstances for a reunion, but a reunion nonetheless.
> 
> I feel bad for Captain aaaaaaaa (you'll see why).

**CLEARVIEW TOWER, 10:55PM**

* * *

With little time left, the alarm continuing to blare through the hallways, the group desperately needed to get into Jari’s cell and find Captain, the last remaining prisoner of the group.

“We’ve gotta get inside first,” Jaska grumbled quietly, searching for an opening mechanism. 

Jari’s door seemed to be thick, much thicker than anyone else’s. What made Jari so dangerous - dangerous enough to be kept behind a door that reinforced? Surely, out of the group, someone like Jaska would be deemed more dangerous, considering the fact that at that moment he began ramming his shoulder into the metal panel separating the group from the floating silhouette in the next room.

The door crumpled at every hit it took, making an awful scream each and every time Jaska’s shoulder hit the metal surface. Eventually the glass cracked, making Olli flinch at the sound, just before the door flung open with one final shout. It slammed violently into the wall behind, completely warped and twisted from the sheer force it had endured.

Marko just stood there, completely frozen in shock. Jaska continued to trudge in, followed by Jani, but Olli silently refused to leave Marko’s side. Olli slowly reached for Marko’s icy hand and squeezed it a little, smiling weakly as he led Marko inside.

Jani turned back to inspect the cell’s door… or what used to be the cell’s door, at least. “Hell, Jaska. You’ve done some serious damage to this thing.”

Jaska absently rubbed his shoulder a little as he looked up at Jari, confused as to why he hadn’t felt any pain from that whole ordeal. His knuckles were still bleeding from when he smashed the glass in Jani’s door, but he wasn’t particularly bothered by any pain either.

Jari seemed to be completely placid and motionless, apart from the occasional breath that he’d take through the mask that loosely hung above his mouth. The straps holding it on were hanging, detached from his head, but the residue of whatever used to flow through the mask seemed to be keeping Jari asleep.

Marko stood at a distance - this was all a bit much for him. Jaska couldn’t blame him - if it weren’t for his adrenaline keeping him going, he’d probably be having a mental breakdown over the fact that he just broke down a door. Olli stuck by his side, like always. Clearly, their friendship hadn’t diminished over the last five years.

Jani approached Jari, tipping his head and lifting an arm, managing to brush one of Jari’s fingers. “Not sure how significant this is gonna be when we try to get outta this hellhole, but Jari doesn’t have his glasses.”

“We’ll sort that out when we get there.” Jaska replied, slightly agitated by the time restraints that they were under.

Jaska reached again for one of Jari’s bare feet, trying to pull him down, wary that the drummer might just fall flat onto the concrete if he wasn’t careful. Stepping underneath Jari, Jani held his arms out just in case that exact situation happened to take place. Lucky thing he was there, then, because after Jaska grabbed ahold of Jari’s left ankle, he fell right into Jani’s arms.

It took Jari a few seconds to fully wake up, but once his eyes had adjusted to the harsh light of the cell, he glanced up at Jani and smiled a little. “Jani, what are you doing here?”

He looked strange, being clean-shaven. It was like looking at a photo of Jari dating back to sometime around 2007, except this time he was missing both his long, chestnut hair and his beard.

“Getting you out of this place,” Jani explained quickly, lowering Jari onto the floor carefully. “Can you walk? We’re going to go find Captain.”

Shakily, Jari took a few steps ahead before nodding in reply. Jaska and Jani followed, gesturing for Marko and Olli to continue ahead through the shadowed, icy hallways. Jari stumbled occasionally in his attempts to walk, but eventually managed to do so in a straight line towards the next cell.

Marko couldn’t decipher why Olli was both so warm yet so distant at the same time. He was shaken, as if he had heard a gunshot for the first time. Something must have happened shortly before Olli and the rest of the group had found Marko, and it probably wasn’t something good, he guessed.

Conveniently, the next cell door was already open, giving the group an advantage - they didn’t have much time before another group of soldiers rushed towards them in an attempt to recapture the escaped musicians. Jaska clearly knew this, because as time went on, his temper seemed to be rising in a panicked instinct, his mind screaming at him to get out of there.

Considering Jaska had seen more of how the prisoners were kept than anyone else in the group, he was the only person who’d be able to judge how awful Captain’s condition was - and boy, was it shockingly disgusting in how he had been treated.

A lone chair sat in the centre of the room. Chains were attached to the floor from cuffs around Captain’s wrists, ankles, and even his neck, where a collar kept him in place. Cloth was wrapped tightly around his eyes to prevent him from seeing, and while he didn’t have a breathing mask like the rest of the group did, he was muzzled like a dog, a different kind of mask fastened tightly around his head.

The mask looked like it was more of a permanent addition, not just a temporary way to keep Captain from doing whatever Clearview had made him capable of doing. No, this mask seemed to be a permanent way of preventing something - maybe, to prevent him from speaking.

Naturally, Jaska was the first to warily enter the room, but the next person inside was Jari, who, despite his constant struggle to walk, rushed forward and grabbed ahold of Captain’s frigid hands. A toothy grin spread across his face when he received a weak squeeze back, indicating that Captain was somewhat awake.

Once Marko had caught a glance of Captain’s state, his mouth dropped open, suddenly becoming defensive at the sight of his old friend. “Oh… oh no. Why did- why is he kept like that? What did they do to him?”

Jani swallowed, grimacing at the sight. “Who knows, Marko. We don’t have time to ask questions yet. Something tells me we’re running out of time.” He turned back towards Jaska and Jari, who were trying their best to figure out a way to get Captain walking freely.

Olli left Marko’s side briefly - the only time he did so that entire night - to unwrap the blindfold covering Captain’s eyes. Once he had done that, meeting eyes with the pale man in the chair for a few seconds, he dropped the blindfold as if it was poisonous and threw it aside.

Jaska was already snapping the chains off their links, Jari watching with wide eyes at his friend’s strange new capabilities.

“How… how are you doing that?” Jari quietly whispered, gazing up at Jaska’s concentrated expression.

The noise of the iron chains snapping and the cuffs falling away onto the concrete was jarring, and every time it would ring through the whole cell and make everyone jump in reflex.

Jani moved to help Jari take the mask off of Captain’s nose and mouth, but when they tried to pull it off after loosening the straps around his head, he let out a pained, muffled scream from underneath the mask. His body seized for a few seconds, squirming in a reflex reaction to the painful sensation.

“Oh god, I’m sorry Captain. Where does it hurt?” Jari asked, shifting in place to allow Captain to point to four places on his cheeks and lower jaw.

A closer inspection by Jani revealed that the mask seemed to be directly fused to Captain’s face, painfully digging into his skin. If they tried to pull the mask off, it’d tear his skin open. Not a pretty picture to imagine, really. Lots of blood, and a fair bit of hanging skin.

Not a pretty thought at all.

“Okay, we’re going to have to leave it on for now.” Jani explained, helping Captain gradually stand up from his chair. 

Jaska kept a careful eye on Captain as he stumbled across the flooring, Jari walking ahead towards Olli and Marko. Both of them still seemed shaken, probably for completely different reasons, Jaska guessed, but they were still capable of leading the way towards the end of the hallway.

Pressure seemed to mount on the group as they trudged carefully through the Clearview Tower’s underbelly. As they wandered further, following a sign on the wall that read as  _ Northern Tunnel System _ , a slow beat of footsteps prompted them to run faster.

Panic truly set in as the soldiers’ marching approached the bulkhead which Jaska had previously closed. The whole building seemed to shake as the doorway ruptured at the force of the battering ram which the soldiers used to break through.

Faster footsteps. Running. Chasing. Ready to catch up with the six escapees, who had finally reached a set of stairs leading down towards whatever the  _ Northern Tunnel System  _ was. While Jaska and Jani seemed to be much more energetic and panicky, the first down the stairway of the group, while Marko and Olli stayed behind, helping Jari and Captain through.

_ This is it _ , Jaska thought, almost wanting to grin through all of the panic.  _ We’re getting out of here. _

Hearts pounded, thoughts raced and hands shook. The stairwell seemed to go on forever, twirling and curling down into a dark, empty abyss, and with the accompaniment of the squad of soldiers following closely behind, it continued to descend even further for so, so much longer.

Days felt as if they had passed by the time they reached the bottom, dashing ahead through a damp, barely lit concrete walkway towards an opening filled with steel beams and bright lights.

Captain turned briefly as he ran towards the doorway and met eyes directly with a soldier at the front of the squad. It sent a shiver down his spine, the cold, empty expression completely unforgiving. The stare made him feel like he was doing something wrong, as if he was being silently told off.

_ Just turn around, _ he thought as he continued to run,  _ and let us go. Go away and leave us alone. _

He knew it was stupid to think that they’d let the group go. They’d never do such a thing, never in a million years. It was their job to catch the escapees, and there was no opportunity for them to fail - Captain guessed that the band was far more valuable to Clearview than they appeared to be.

The soldier’s expressionless face and grey empty eyes twitched for a short moment before he abruptly stopped in his tracks, turning to the rest of his squad who looked at him in complete confusion. He seemed to negotiate something with his disorientated troop, trying to make a point - or something along those lines.

Even though the group knew that they had to keep running, the sight was fascinating. While they watched the argument take place, Captain’s eyes were fixed on that one soldier, deep in a trancelike state. When Olli called out to him, there was no response.

“Why… why aren’t they attacking us?” Marko stuttered, perplexed by the soldier’s actions. “Cap? Are you… did you do something?”

Still, nothing.

Captain’s stare was blank and vacant, just a void of emptiness. No thoughts seemed to pass through his mind, no words swaying on his flushed lips kept still by the mask on his lower jaw. It terrified Jani, for he had never seen such an expression on his old friend’s face before. 

Jari took a single hesitant step forward, reaching for Captain’s hand, carefully weaving his own fingers into Captain’s stiff, clammy hand. He gave it a little squeeze, which brought Captain back to reality - and the soldier, too, who paused for a second before immediately turning and pointing his gun back at the group.

Jaska shoved his way between Jari and the soldiers within the blink of an eye, grabbing ahold of one of the steel support beams beside him. Marko helped a bewildered Captain sprint ahead while Jani tried to alert Olli that it was  _ definitely _ time to keep running, deep into the Northern Tunnel System.

“Jaska? What are you-” Jari began, unnerved by the careful, precise movements of his fellow bandmate.

His voice was cut off by a mighty scream from the thick steel support beam which Jaska’s hands were tightly wrapped around, a screech comparable to an eldritch monster emerging from the depths of its domain.

Olli’s eyes widened, and fear swarmed his thoughts as he witnessed something both truly terrifying, and truly incredible. There was a final furious bellow from the support beam as it was torn from the roof and cast across the hallway, providing a protective shield from the shower of bullets which populated the air just a second afterward.

Jaska glanced back at Jari and Olli, immensely shocked by what they had just seen. He himself glanced back at the fallen support and sighed, placing a hand on his forehead, breathing heavily. Disbelief flooded his blood as the three escapees continued ahead, dazed and still deep in distress.

Stunned and left in silence, the rest of the group at the end of the hallway warily watched Jari, Olli, and Jaska approach them. Barely any of what had just happened felt real - instead, it felt somewhat like a fever dream, or even a nightmare. Some sort of a never-ending nightmare

Maybe they were just having a long dream, and the band was still back in 2020, fast asleep on various couches backstage after the show. Or maybe, an accident had happened on the way to the show on their tour bus and they were in a coma, dreaming their time away in a hospital bed.

The blinding lights shining into the Northern Tunnel System flickered sporadically as the group of six took their first steps towards true freedom. Seconds before the darkness swallowed them whole like a shark consuming its prey, there was one sentence, one question, that lingered in the air, echoing for millennia.

“Are we going insane?”


	13. V - Navigating the Tunnels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fair warning, there's a fair bit of strong language in this chapter  
> it turned out a lot more heated than i intended but hey it was pretty damn fun to write

**NORTHERN TUNNEL SYSTEM, 11:34PM**

* * *

The hallway abruptly opened up into a cavernous area, and while the group couldn’t see much due to the majority of the lights going out, it was clear to see that the area was used for transportation. Train carriages, beaten and with chipped paint, sat on the rails - some empty, some full of cargo.

Signs ahead, illuminated in the dark, directed the tunnels towards Uppsala, Stockholm’s neighbouring town - one that was partially demolished, left in ruins. There really wasn’t much there, but it was better than staying in Stockholm.

The escapees blindly stumbled towards an empty carriage on the tracks, still aware of the squad behind them. Obviously, Jaska’s little display had slowed that squad down - in fact, almost completely - and left them a little perplexed on what exactly to do next. Jani took note of the fact that the door was open and swung himself inside with a wide grin.

Inside, the floor was dusty and the train’s interior which would have otherwise been filled with seats had been stripped away. A musty smell lingered in the air like snow, filling the group’s airways and making them cough - well, all of them apart from Captain, who struggled to even produce a cough under the restriction of the mask attached to his face.

Jari inspected the tracks closely in the dim light, noticing that there wasn’t actually anything stopping the carriage from moving along the tracks if it got enough of a push. His hickory brown eyes sparkled and lit up as he ran up to Jaska excitedly. It was as if he was a child on Christmas day, giddy with excitement.

“Jaska! Do you… do you think you could give this carriage a little push? I think we’ve got our getaway sorted!” He exclaimed, pulling on Jaska’s arm.

Jari’s newfound excitement was strange to say the least, considering what was actually going on, but when Jaska saw what he was talking about, a smirk spread across his own face too - this truly was a possible getaway.

“Okay,” Jaska breathed, scrutinising the rails, “Jari, you go and get into the carriage, and get some of the others to help you pull me in once I run over to the door.”

Jari ran back to the carriage, leaping through the doorway and explaining the plan to the rest of the group. Marko beamed back at Jari’s enthusiasm, thankful for it. The excitement seemed to overtake all of the other negative emotions floating around the group - namely confusion, exhaustion and fury.

Preparing both his body and mind, Jaska had to take a long, slow breath. He knew he was stronger than he used to be, but really… did Jari truly think he could push a train’s carriage? Why did Jari have so much faith in something Jaska himself didn’t quite understand?

This time it was much harder than before. The chains had felt like nothing, as if they were made of fabric, but the carriage was heavy. Heavier than the steel support, that was for sure, but still - not impossible. At first it creaked a little, and Jaska had to put his whole weight against the back of the beaten-up carriage, but all of a sudden it started rolling.

In some sort of a delirious joy, Jaska stepped back and observed his new achievement. Heat flushed at his cheeks as the carriage continued to roll, before it prompted him to bring himself back into reality and sprint towards the door, the speed rapidly increasing.

Olli reached out and grasped onto Jaska’s arm as he ran beside the tracks. Jari grabbed Jaska’s other hand but lost his grip, causing Captain to push forward and take it instead, heaving a panting, exhausted Jaska into the carriage. As they breathed and wheezed, Jani and Marko collaboratively swung the sliding door shut, encasing the escapees in a safe oasis.

After a while, Olli glanced up to the rest of the group, barely able to see them, and chuckled at their situation. “Can you _believe_ we just did that? I mean- how? We’re just normal people who managed to evade a rich corporation’s squad of trained soldiers!”

The rest of the group wanted to smile too, but once the sentence including the words ‘normal people’ reached their ears, the idea was scrapped amongst them all. Did Olli really think that this mess of impossible acts was just adrenaline doing its thing?

“No, Olli… that’s- we’re not normal people anymore. Look at what we’ve done! You made a group of people fall to their knees using a single glance,” Jani protested, “while Captain did… well... something to that other soldier, I short-circuited a switchboard while trying to get you out, and Jaska’s broken far too many things since he broke out.”

The carriage went silent for a second. Nobody was expecting such a hostile reply from Jani, but it seemed to prompt the anger and confusion to come flowing out as tidal waves.

“That wasn’t me!” Olli insisted, shifting in his position. “How could _I_ have done that?”

Jani sighed angrily and got up from his seat. “It was you, Olli! You’ve gotta accept that! You’re able to do something weird and kind of scary, and so are we! We’re all confused, all in denial, and there’s a lot we’ve gotta sort out!”

Olli stood up abruptly, too, and staggered towards Jani. Marko, Captain and Jari shuffled back a little, cautious of the conflict that continued to rise. Jaska moved aside just a little, but not enough to be out of the way of the firing line, and was roughly kicked in the ribs as Olli took another step forward.

“You think _I_ ,” Olli hissed, pointing a finger at his chest, “would willingly - you hear that, Jani - _willingly_ hurt someone and cause them the pain that those soldiers endured?” Tears brimmed at his eyes, but he swallowed them down with the lump in his throat. “Never, Jani, would I do that. I wouldn’t wish pain upon anyone.” Olli spat.

Jani rolled his eyes, although it wasn’t visible to the rest of the group in the dark lighting. “That’s not what I mean, Olli! It could have been an accident, a heat-of-the-moment action, but there’s no denying that you were the one who did it! I fully understand that you would never hurt a fly, hell, I _know_ you, Olli, but this… this is different. This is something none of us understand!”

“You,” Olli fumed, again taking another step towards Jani, swaying with the movements of the carriage, “are completely accusing me of something _I didn’t do_! Yes, I get that we’re all seeing some strange differences between now and before we were trapped, but _not_ with me! You and Jaska are the only ones who have shown any signs of being able to do these impossible things - _not me_!”

The pair seemed to be exchanging each other’s anger, fueling each other. They couldn’t see it themselves, for the rest of the world did not exist in that argument, but whenever Olli spoke, Jani got angrier and more frustrated with the naivety of the guitarist who refused to accept the truth. Marko saw this exchange yet he seemed pinned to his position by something invisible, forcing him to watch despite how badly he wished he could step in.

“What about Captain? We all watched him do something completely absurd with that one soldier - he forced that soldier to stop chasing us just by looking in his eyes - and you’re not bringing that up!” Olli continued, pointing to the frail, masked figure in the corner, fueling the blazing fire even more.

Jani scoffed. “It was nothing, Olli! Just a coincidence of timings, making it appear that Captain had done something to him even though he hadn’t!”

Every time his name was brought up, Captain pushed himself further into the corner, as if he could disappear through the wall if he pressed hard enough against the cold steel. Jari was doing something similar even though he wasn’t being mentioned, his previous excitement completely dampened by the resentment and rage that overtook everything else in the carriage.

“Yeah, right. He’s _muzzled_ , you fuckwit. Or are you too delirious to see that, Jani? Obviously,” Olli argued, getting dangerously close to Jani, “you’re too out of your own mind to see that Clearview thought he was _dangerous_ , hence the goddamn mask that stops him from talking! Why else do you think they’d put something that you _can’t remove_ on his face?”

“Shit, Olli!” Jani swore, rubbing a hand over his head in exasperation. “You’re the one who’s out of your own mind! Sit down and get your fucking head together! You’re not seeing the world how it really is, and until you do, I don’t want to hear a word come out of your mouth, alright?”

The lights flickered with every accentuated word that Jani spoke, seeming to fluctuate in time with his very voice, creating an off-putting atmosphere inside the carriage. Marko, Jari, and Captain all winced at every flutter, the bright lights hurting their eyes and disorienting them in the darkness.

Jani took one last step closer to Olli. They were so close now that they could feel each other’s heated breaths on each other’s cheeks, and smell the smoky aroma of pure outrage on each other’s skin. Olli stayed silent, eyes narrow at the man in front of him.

“Got it, Olli?” Jani hissed, almost close enough to hear Olli’s very own thundering heartbeat in his chest.

Olli sniggered. “I’m not listening to a single word you say, Jani. Not until you get your own fucking head together.”

A shove came between the pair, Olli tripping with the movement of the carriage, Jani smirking in satisfaction of his argument. “Well then, if you insist that you’re not the one who made those soldiers scream for their lives, I’m the only one in this argument who can seriously do some damage if I really wanted to. Sit the fuck down, Olli.”

The guitarist well and truly backed off at that very moment, and Jani retreated into the darkness. He hadn’t witnessed whatever Jani had done when he short-circuited that switchboard, but if he tried to imagine the things Jani could do with enough motivation, he didn’t like the images he saw in his head.

As he continued to take a step back, his foot knocked into something. Looking down, he noticed Jaska, completely motionless, eyes shut, his last position revealing his arm clutching at his ribs. His chest was lightly rising and falling, but not as it would be if he was properly awake.

Jari scrambled forward. “Oh god, he’s- he’s unconscious. Fuck, Olli! Did you kick him or something during the heat of that argument? Move out of the way!” He ordered, pulling Jaska up to a wall and holding him tightly after pushing Olli aside.

Olli held his hands at his chest, heart pounding and pulse thundering. Did he hurt Jaska while he was focused on flinging aggressive arguments back at Jani?

Was he as harmless as he thought he was?

“See, Olli?” A raspy voice spoke from the opposite corner, an overpowering smugness dripping off of every word. “Since you’ve woken up, all you’ve done is hurt other people - and now look at what you’ve done.”


	14. VI - A Dark Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya! i know this is kinda short but i'm running low on inspiration for this fic, hence why i've been updating morpho catalyst so much! but i did want to give all of you a little chapter to continue this fic a little further :)

**NORTHERN TUNNEL SYSTEM, 11:41PM**

* * *

“Shut the hell up, Jani!” Jari snapped, angrily returning back to monitoring Jaska’s weak pulse.

Marko also became defensive, a little frustrated with how Jani wanted to stir up the group yet again. “Leave Olli alone! I get that you’re tired and frustrated - we all are - but it gives you no right to keep attacking him!”

And that’s when the whole carriage went silent. Olli’s eyes soon closed through exhaustion, with his head leaning against Marko’s shoulder, as far away from Captain and Jani as possible. Jari was next to them, staying awake for Jaska’s sake. Captain shivered in the opposite corner, alone, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t sleep.

Neither could Jani, and before long, Jani had quietly tapped on the wall to grab Captain’s attention. Gesturing a little, trying not to wake the others, he patted the floor next to him to invite Captain to sit next to him instead.

While you couldn’t see Captain smile - in fact, he couldn’t smile, because the mask prevented it - his deep eyes sparkled with gratefulness to Jani as he shuffled his way over. Jani reached out and hugged his arm around Captain’s shoulder, providing a little bit of body warmth in the icy train carriage.

As the carriage rattled along, swaying in a comforting way, it lulled Jari to sleep despite his best efforts to stay awake. It wasn’t for long, however, because the moment he shut his eyes, a nightmare presented itself. Or was it a nightmare? It felt more real than a nightmare to Jari.

It was some sort of out-of-body experience. He was seeing through his own eyes, yet he was also watching from afar, staring at the six figures which were kneeling on the concrete with blindfolds tied around their eyes.

He knelt. And despite the fact that they were blindfolded, Jari knew that the other five people beside him were his friends. Looking closer, he noticed that their hands were held back by thick cuffs, and their legs were strapped to the concrete, preventing them from getting up.

Six heavily armed soldiers approached with their monstrous rifles. Their steps were mind-numbingly loud, as if they were moving skyscrapers which planted their foundations into the ground. The rifles were pointed at the six prisoners’ heads.

A date flashed before his eyes as the shot echoed out into oblivion.

Pain blossomed.

Jari screamed.

The whole carriage seemed to jump as Jari awoke suddenly, his voice hoarse. Marko and Olli both turned to see him sweating, red-faced, heart pounding. The date he had seen was continually revolving in his head, a date only a few months away.

Jani and Captain showed their concern from afar, moving a little closer to make sure their friend was okay. Captain was still shivering a little, but Jani’s comfort had helped him feel at least a little more at peace with himself.

“I-it burns! Oh hell, it- god, it hurts!” Jari whimpered, putting a hand to his head - exactly where he had been shot in that nightmare - and feeling the hot blood spill from the wound. 

There was no wound, nor was there blood.

Olli carefully moved forward to the quivering figure in the corner. “Hey, hey, you’re okay. Jari, listen to me, okay?” Olli pressed a hand on the side of Jari’s head just to make sure there wasn’t anything there. “What’s up?”

Jari just continued to whimper, the images of what he saw repeating themselves, the date he envisioned still screaming its name from the back of his head.

Olli squeezed himself between Jari and Jaska, carefully shifting Jaska’s weight onto Marko’s lap. Marko seemed to understand the gesture and continued to check on Jaska’s health as Olli comforted Jari.

Looking up into Jari’s chocolate brown eyes, Olli held Jari’s hand tightly. It was a prompt of sorts, and the small act managed to get Jari to speak some sentences that were actually understandable.

Olli wasn’t surprised about Jari’s reaction once he knew what he had seen in that awful, graphic nightmare.

“You’re okay, now. It was most likely just a nightmare, harmless.” Olli smiled a little, wrapping his arms around Jari. 

Jari just couldn’t forget about it. “But what if it wasn’t? T-there was a date! Whatever happened there, hasn’t happened yet! W-we… we could be heading to our deaths just by staying on this train carriage!” 

To Olli, Jari’s fear seemed to radiate in waves, almost tangible in the air around him. Nobody else seemed to be able to feel nor see it. It was strange, but not the strangest thing he’d seen in the past few hours.

Marko was next to speak, and ask quite a sudden, off topic question. “Hey, Jari? Can you watch Jaska for a bit?”

Reaching over, Jari immediately quietened down and held onto Jaska. It took a few seconds for Olli to gather why exactly Marko had done that, but soon it made sense. Taking care of Jaska is something Jari would obviously prioritise, in terms of things to worry about, and would distract him from the horrible things he dreamt about.

Jari didn’t speak another word after that, not until Jaska finally groaned quietly and opened his icy eyes. 

**Author's Note:**

> So these are all first drafts. I can't guarantee they'll be good.  
> Hope you enjoyed anyway :P


End file.
